Educational Administration Programs Research Articles

Re-living Dangerous Memories: Online Journaling to Interrogate Spaces of “Otherness” in an Educational Administration Program at a Midwestern University

This theoretical paper explores the use of online journaling in an educational administration program to interrogate spaces of “otherness”—the geographical spaces of cities where poor children and children of color live—and the dangerous memories prospective administrators may have about diversity. The cultures of most educational administration programs do not help graduate students “dig beneath the surface” of the seemingly benign recipes of current school reform to explore cultural differences. When given the opportunity to use reflective online journaling, candidates talked more freely about race, ethnicity, class, language, ability/disability, gender, sexual orientation, and other facets of diversity. Reculturing educational administration programs will require both students and instructors to have similar opportunities to interrogate spaces of “otherness” and work to transform them.

Preparing Tomorrow’s School Leaders with a Standards-Based, Prescriptive Curriculum

The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 holds public schools in the United States accountable for increased student achievement and adequate yearly progress (AYP). Schools that do not make AYP for three consecutive years are subject to stringent sanctions. Principals, teachers, and students are under tremendous pressure to demonstrate increased achievement each year. State Boards of Education are insisting that school leaders have knowledge about curriculum and instruction in addition to the managerial skills that were the hallmarks of educational administration programs in years past. Colleges that prepare prospective principals are redesigning their instructional leadership programs to ensure that they are prescriptive, standards-based, and curriculum-focused to meet NCLB’s rigorous requirements.

“Where I came from, Where I am Now, and Where I'd like to Be”: Aspiring Administrators Reflect on Issues Related to Equity, Diversity, and Social Justice

This study explores student reflections about issues related to equity, diversity, and social justice from an educational foundations course. Online reflections and course assignments were analyzed from 15 aspiring administrators for patterns. Findings indicate that (1) students were willing to engage and reflect on their experiences and cultural identity, (2) students used their worldviews as filters for these experiences, (3) students were not necessarily willing to experience discomfort for the sake of learning about difference, and (4) students thought about their identities in a range of distinct developmental ways. If educational administration programs are to prepare future administrators who are reflective practitioners and critical thinkers working for social justice, professors must prepare these individuals to acknowledge their cultural identity and its implications for the schools they lead, and professors must account for their students’ developmental differences in class.

Faculty Hiring at Top-Ranked Higher Education Administration Programs: An Examination Using Social Network Analysis

Using network analysis we investigated faculty hiring at 21 U. S. News top-ranked programs in higher education administration. Our research questions were as follows. Do top programs hire from each other? Are faculty from the “outside” finding positions at top programs? Mixed results hint at implications for the “health” of the hiring network. Closed systems in higher education may produce unintended consequences as graduate programs look to expand into new global markets.

Emerging technologies in global communication

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to describe how practitioners from Canada, the UK, Singapore, and the USA, university educational administration faculty from the USA, and the editor of a premier international journal of educational management engaged in a collaborative process to discover how to improve the preparation and practice of educational administration on a global basis.Design/methodology/approachAn appreciative inquiry theoretical research perspective was used to discover a positive core of experiences that could add to cultural proficiency as it relates to educational administration.FindingsIn each cultural context, the central nature of the highpoint stories focused on appreciative ways to work with other people. The stories suggest that relationships and collaboration are at the heart of an educational administrator's practice. It was discovered that twenty‐first century educational administrators operating in a global context believed that they could become difference makers in education.Originality/valueThe findings from this study provide encouragement for extended global collaboration for practicing educational administrators as well as those who are responsible for their preparation. The findings also suggest that using collaborative technologies in the framework of a cross‐cultural educator partnership can enhance the preparation and practice in educational administration programs.

New Faculty on the Block: Issues of Stress and Support

SUMMARY The research reported investigated the experiences of new faculty in their first three years of employment in higher education administration programs. New faculty face stress relative to work-life integration, issues pertaining to gender or color, teaching responsibilities, and unclear expectations. The findings of this study highlight the role of graduate school socialization and identification as a “chosen” student targeting a faculty position as an influence on new faculty and their acclimation during their first years. Implications include the need for intentional mentoring, inclusive support for all students seeking faculty roles, and the need for specificity on the part of hiring committees and new departments regarding expectations. Key to new faculty success is obtaining a sense of work-life integration.

Future School Principals' Views of the Roles of Professional School Counselors

A clinical simulation technique was used to investigate how future school principals view the roles of professional school counselors, particularly as those responsibilities are represented in the ASCA National Model®. The 244 respondents were principals-in-training (i.e., graduate students) officially enrolled in educational administration programs at member institutions of the University Council for Educational Administration. These principals- in-training were able to differentiate between appropriate and inappropriate roles of professional school counselors, and the results generally were independent of their demographic characteristics.

Future School Principals’ Views of the Roles of Professional School Counselors

A clinical simulation technique was used to investigate how future school principals view the roles of professional school counselors, particularly as those responsibilities are represented in the ASCA National Model®. The 244 respondents were principals-in-training (i.e., graduate students) officially enrolled in educational administration programs at member institutions of the University Council for Educational Administration. These principals-in-training were able to differentiate between appropriate and inappropriate roles of professional school counselors, and the results generally were independent of their demographic characteristics.

An International Effort to Build Leadership Capacity: Insights from the First Cohort of Educational Administration at the College of the Bahamas

In the past several decades, the United States and other countries around the globe have witnessed and participated in unprecedented efforts to interconnect culturally, economically, and socially. As the process of globalization continues to unfold, research questions about educational leadership, that at one time seemed complete within the context of the United States, have now evolved into lines of inquiry that may or may not translate within another nation’s educational delivery system. Such is the case when considering educational leadership in The Bahamas. The purpose of this qualitative study was to learn what motivated students to enroll in the first formal training program in educational administration in the history of The Bahamas. This research considers the intersections of motivation, career paths, and educational histories of those who live and work in schools in this young nation. Not only does little research exist on student characteristics in educational leadership, there is negligible research on The Bahamian educational delivery system. Because this research focuses on Bahamian educators’ motivations to enter a training program for school administrators, it is important to understand, in general, the history and culture of the Bahamanian educational system, which currently does not require any formal training for its school administrators.

Exploring the Faculty Pipeline in Educational Administration: Evidence from the Survey of Earned Doctorates, 1999 to 2000

Purpose : This study examines the factors that predict who among those receiving educational administration doctorates is most likely to become a faculty member. Research Design : The study uses 10 years of data on all doctoral recipients from programs in educational administration gathered from the Survey of Earned Doctorates (1990 to 2000). Statistical models, using logistic regression, determined which variables (preparation, experience, and personal) best predicted whether graduates pursued postsecondary academic careers. A separate model determined which variables predicted the likelihood of holding a graduate assistantship (the best predictor of a faculty career). A third model determined the variables that best predicted the selectivity of an individual's undergraduate institution. Findings : The study found that 19% of doctoral recipients in educational administration pursue faculty careers. The best predictors of becoming a faculty member were attending a research university full time, holding an assistantship, being single, having no children, and being younger than age 30. A second track to the professoriat is also evident. Many who pursue faculty careers are older, worked full time in graduate school, and held faculty positions before they graduated. Conclusions : More research is needed about the second track to the educational professoriat. From a policy perspective, questions remain about the characteristics most desired for those training future school administrators as well as future educational administration faculty.

The uneven march toward social justice

PurposeThis paper aims to provide a framework for the development and implementation of educational administration programs that encourage practitioners and educational administration faculty to push application and preparation beyond reproducing tendencies of the status quo as well as to open education to the potential of embracing silenced or marginalized learners.Design/methodology/approachTwo programs developed and implemented by the Department of Educational Management and Development (EMD) at New Mexico State University are described and discussed. The programs are reviewed to show the gradual but significant transformation to a social justice content beginning with the more traditionally‐aligned program in educational administration, the Community College Leadership Doctoral Program (CCLDP), and concluding with a detailed description of the Educational Leadership Doctoral Program (ELDP), a leadership program that unites traditional educational administration curriculum with social justice inquiries of power and privilege.FindingsThe detailed information attempts to teach practitioners and educational administrators how to gain entry into institutional power structures so communication, collaboration, and reform can occur.Originality/valueThe paper provides the tools to survive in existing systems and the awareness to see inequalities. The capability of creating change in educational environments expecting a business‐as‐usual‐paradigm is also discussed.

Educational Leadership: Failure to Use Our Imagination

AS I THINK about educational leadership, I am reminded of a late-afternoon discussion with school and community reform leaders. We had all worked hard to revive community-based schools as part of a multimillion-dollar nationwide grant. We were attending a meeting to conclude the five-year period of the grant and relishing our success in putting community-based schools back on the radar screens of policy makers. We could cite hundreds of revitalized schools, and we had helped to restore schools in small communities that had previously lost their schools to the forces of consolidation and standardization. We had research that consistently showed higher attainment by low-income students when they attended community-based schools, and we had developed networks and programs of curriculum and professional development to support teachers, parents, and citizens in their efforts to preserve and strengthen community schools. Yet we were fearful of what lay ahead without outside funding, for we all knew that we hadn't created a movement. State mandates for consolidating schools continued, more small schools were being closed than opened, and community-based education was slow to be adopted by schools outside of our funding jurisdictions. CARL GLICKMAN is Scholar-in-Residence in the Educational Administration and Policy Program at the University of Georgia, Athens. After the end of the first of two days of discussions, the facilitator of our meeting asked for volunteers to lead late-afternoon discussions on topics of our choice. I must have been having an out-of-body experience because I was surprised that my hand went up. And I was even more surprised to hear myself suggesting that I would lead a session about failure: what we had failed at, what we learned from such failures, and the lessons of how to use failure in future work on school renewal. A group of 12, including teachers, parents, staff developers, ministers, and superintendents, chose to attend my failure session, which I announced would be held in the lounge. Of course, I sought out tables far from public view, in the darkest corner behind the old piano. I began with my own story of losing and the consequences. It went something like this. Most of my career has been highlighted by failures. Every class I have ever taught has had students who didn't learn all that they should have. The networks of schools that my colleagues and I helped to develop,1 even though they have received major recognitions and been judged successful, had a downside to them. Several of the principals and teachers of the best of these schools had lost their jobs as a result of pushing the concept of democratic education beyond what influential parents, school boards, and superintendents were willing to accept. After the superintendents and/or school boards had forced out key leaders of some of these most promising schools, they restaffed them with leaders who returned the schools to their old regimented ways. In effect, what had appeared to be success had soon morphed into failure, with all the ensuing human costs. Others in our group listened carefully. Then each in turn offered his or her own story of failure. …

Aligning Compensation with Education: Design and Implementation of the Educational Value Unit (EVU) System in an Academic Internal Medicine Department

The authors report the development of a new metric for distributing university funds to support faculty efforts in education in the department of internal medicine at the University of Kansas School of Medicine. In 2003, a committee defined the educational value unit (EVU), which describes and measures the specific types of educational work done by faculty members, such as core education, clinical teaching, and administration of educational programs. The specific work profile of each faculty member was delineated. A dollar value was calculated for each 0.1 EVU. The metric was prospectively applied and a faculty survey was performed to evaluate the faculty’s perception of the metric. Application of the metric resulted in a decrease in university support for 34 faculty and an increase in funding for 23 faculty. Total realignment of funding was US$1.6 million, or an absolute value of US$29,072 ± 38,320.00 in average shift of university salary support per faculty member. Survey results showed that understanding of the purpose of university funding was enhanced, and that faculty members perceived a more equitable alignment of teaching effort with funding. The EVU metric resulted in a dramatic realignment of university funding for educational efforts in the department of internal medicine. The metric was easily understood, quickly implemented, and perceived to be fair by the faculty. By aligning specific salary support with faculty’s educational responsibilities, a foundation was created for applying mission-based incentive programs.

Student satisfaction with an educational administration preparation program

PurposeThe purpose of this research is to examine the perceptions of graduates from an educational administration program in terms of its effectiveness and impact on their lives and careers.Design/methodology/approachThe perceptions of 23 graduates of a Master's degree program in educational administration in a developing university were examined in terms of personal satisfaction, content, and impact. A qualitative analysis approach was used to interpret the data generated by a four‐part questionnaire distributed to the first three graduating cohorts in educational administration.FindingsPersonal satisfaction was shown to be more related to interpersonal interaction than academic content of the program of study. The findings also showed that criticism of educational administration preparation programs in newly emerging systems is similar to the criticism levied at similar programs in the west four decades ago. The findings are discussed within their relevance to the construction of a global theory of educational administration preparation programs.Research limitations/implicationsAlthough the circumstances under which this study was conducted (popular uprising, military violence, etc.) posed limitations on the rigor of its design (e.g. sample size, return rate of questionnaires), it, none the less, offers a significant contribution to the construction of administrative training theory.Originality/valueThis study bears significant ramifications and limitations to the construction of the theory of preparing educational administrators in newly emerging systems.

The National College for School Leadership: A Successful English Innovation?

In the u.s., the National College for School Leadership (NCSL) in England has been hailed as an outstanding example of innovation in the preparation of educational leaders. According to Arthur Levine, the NCSL proved to be the most promising model we saw, providing examples of good practice that educational administration programs might seek to emulate. (1) In England, there are mixed views about the achievements and influence of the NCSL. In its short life, it has fundamentally changed the landscape of leadership and management development by establishing suite of impressive programs, developing notable electronic platform, and becoming major sponsor of school leadership research. Its overall conception, scale, and execution have been called a paradigm shift, (2) and the college is now the dominant influence on school leadership development and research. However, the NCSL has also pursued scale at the expense of depth, demanded too little from its participants, and overemphasized practice at the expense of theory. In this article, I describe the origins, aims, and signature features of NCSL, discuss the criticisms leveled against it, and present some lessons for U.S. universities. ORIGINS AND AIMS Before the establishment of the NCSL in 2000, leadership programs were offered by range of providers, including universities, professional associations, and local education authorities (LEAs). Interest in these programs was heightened by the 1988 Education Reform Act, which passed on substantial management responsibilities to school governing bodies and principals. However, there was no mandatory requirement for school leaders to have specialist qualification in educational administration, and many principals were appointed on the basis of their professional experience alone. The Labour Government, elected for the first time in 1997, gave high priority to education. It was persuaded by the school effectiveness research that enhancing school leadership was key driver of educational improvement, and so the NCSL opened in November 2000, followed by an official launch by Prime Minister Tony Blair in 2002. The goals of the NCSL signal the breadth of its ambition: 1. To provide single national focus for school leadership development, research and innovation 2. To be driving force for leadership in our schools and the wider community 3. To provide support to and be major resource for school leaders 4. To stimulate national and international debate on leadership issues. (3) These goals indicate the national and global ambitions of the NCSL. It has produced raft of programs for all levels of school leadership. Its world-class claim might be regarded as rhetorical, but the NCSL organized program of visits to leading centers in seven countries to learn about good practice, (4) and it also encourages international scholars and practitioners to contribute to its research. SIGNATURE FEATURES The NCSL is unique in that it provides national focus on leadership, stresses development at all stages of leadership, relies heavily on practice and practitioners, practitioners, and reaches very large number of school leaders. Each of these features has much to offer as well as some drawbacks. A national center. The NCSL has substantial recurrent funding and is housed in lavish, specially designed center, leading Ray Bolam to claim that the NCSL now operates what is probably the most comprehensive and sophisticated national school leadership development model in the world. (5) The creation of such central facility was major change from the previous ad hoc arrangements, which ranged from few days of induction by LEAs through university master's and doctoral programs. University programs were, and continue to be, targeted at leaders at all levels and drew mainly on theory and research rather than participants' experience. …

Breaking the Cartel

Thanks to Arthur Levine's report, Educating School Leaders, (1) it is no longer necessary to belabor the catastrophe that is the education, certification, and licensure of school leaders in the U.S. The cartel--the interlocking and self-perpetuating system of state agencies, cash for credit university programs, and hopelessly inadequate local hiring practices--has been exposed once again in all its gory detail, this time from within. The issue now is what should be done about it. I am dubious about universities getting better without first competing for the franchise. Rather, I think we need to rebuild a system of preparation for school leaders. Let me state a few basic design principles that could shape this work. Principle 1. Everything should be anchored in the instructional core of schooling. Traditionally, the status of educational administrators has been defined by their distance from instructional practice. This culture has resulted in a collection of people doing work that is largely irrelevant to the central tasks of schooling, while they are largely unqualified for the work that needs doing. The present accountability demands on schools cannot be addressed except through the direct management of instructional practice. Most educational administrators are unprepared to do this work, except in the most superficial ways. They are unprepared because 1) they were not selected mainly for their knowledge of instructional practice, 2) they have shielded themselves from learning about the management of instruction by deliberately focusing on other dimensions of the work, and 3) they have been rewarded for doing things other than paying attention to instructional practice. The work of running schools--managing the use of time and money, motivating and supervising people, connecting the school to its clients, meeting performance targets--has meaning only if its effects can be seen in the classroom. Learning how to do this work involves immersion in theory, in the use of evidence, and in the practice of face-to-face relations associated with the organization's work. Some of this can be learned in graduate school. Most of it can be learned only through supervised practice. The current division of labor between education schools, states, and districts does not provide settings for this learning to occur. Principle 2. Systemic problems require systemic solutions. With few exceptions, states have defaulted on their responsibility to regulate administrator preparation programs. Universities cannot resist using educational administration programs as cash cows. Districts typically have nothing resembling a human resource management strategy that would allow them to dictate requirements for prospective school leaders. It is impossible to fix the problem of quality in educational administration by fixing one dimension of it. The thin end of the wedge for solving these systemic problems is the improvement of the capacity of school systems to manage their human resources. Districts and schools are the places where the force of accountability is most apparent and where the incentives to improve are greatest. Districts should be allowed to run their own training and certification programs, either alone or in cooperation with other districts. Universities should be relieved of their monopoly on the preparation and certification of administrators. …

Special Education Administrators' Perceptions of Music Therapy in Special Education Programs

ABSTRACT: Music therapy has been shown to be beneficial in treating and remediating learning deficits in students with various disabilities currently served through special education services. As public schools face more financial constraints, it is evident that the development and/or maintenance of therapy positions may be increasingly jeopardized. In this study, 81 surveys regarding Illinois special education program administrators' perceptions of therapy efficacy and practice were completed. Responses pertaining to demographics, knowledge, and perceptions of therapy were analyzed. Results indicated that graduate level studies and experience with therapy programs were the two variables that had a significant effect on administrators' perceptions. Implications and recommendations for educational programming and professional preparation are discussed. Music therapy has been shown to be beneficial in treating and remediating learning deficits in students with various disabilities currently served through special education services. Special education is federally guided by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) of 1997 (P.L. No. 105-17). This law requires that all children receive a free appropriate public education (FARE) through specially designed instruction at no additional cost to the family. Turnbull, Turnbull, Shank, and Smith (2004) reported that 11.4% of the public school population, or almost 5.75 million students, received special education during the 1999-2000 school year. On July 1, 2002, the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education (PCESE) reported that the number of students receiving services had reached 6 million, and one half of those had a specific learning disability (Koch, 2004). As reported in the 2003 annual report for the state of Illinois, the percentage of students receiving special education in that state is above the national average and continues to climb, having been over 14% in 2001, 2002, and 2003 (Koch, 2004). Considering these data and the fact that the first author is a member of the Illinois Music Therapy Association (IAMT), this study focused on perceptions of special education administrators in Illinois. The IDEA outlines requirements for special education eligibility, including thorough evaluation of the child's health and sensory status, social and emotional status, general intelligence, academic performance, communicative status, and motor abilities. Information from these evaluations is then to design an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) that provides for the FAPE that each student needs. The IDEA states that related services must be provided, as necessary, to complete the IEP. While therapy is not specifically listed and defined in the IDEA as a related service, it is included in Attachment 1 to IDEA '97 as an example of other related services that may be included in order for a student to receive FAPE (Mattson, 2001). Attachment 1 also lists artistic and cultural programs, art therapy, and dance therapy as related services. The National Information Center for Children and Youth with Disabilities (NICHCY) website displays the American Music Therapy Association's (AMTA) definition of therapy and discusses therapy as a related service when it is used to strengthen nonmusical areas such as academic skills, physical coordination, communication, sensory-motor development, expression of emotions, and stress (AMTA, 2004). Music therapy involves the application of techniques to address non-musical behaviors including those related to physical, emotional, cognitive, and social concerns. The AMTA (1999) asserted that music therapy improves the quality of life for persons who are well and meets the needs of children and adults with disabilities or illnesses. Specific therapy interventions promote wellness, stress management, reduction and alleviation of pain, expression of feelings, memory enhancement, improved communication, and physical rehabilitation. …

Aligning Compensation with Education: Design and Implementation of the Educational Value Unit (EVU) System in an Academic Internal Medicine Department

The authors report the development of a new metric for distributing university funds to support faculty efforts in education in the department of internal medicine at the University of Kansas School of Medicine. In 2003, a committee defined the educational value unit (EVU), which describes and measures the specific types of educational work done by faculty members, such as core education, clinical teaching, and administration of educational programs. The specific work profile of each faculty member was delineated. A dollar value was calculated for each 0.1 EVU. The metric was prospectively applied and a faculty survey was performed to evaluate the faculty's perception of the metric. Application of the metric resulted in a decrease in university support for 34 faculty and an increase in funding for 23 faculty. Total realignment of funding was US$1.6 million, or an absolute value of US$29,072 +/- 38,320.00 in average shift of university salary support per faculty member. Survey results showed that understanding of the purpose of university funding was enhanced, and that faculty members perceived a more equitable alignment of teaching effort with funding. The EVU metric resulted in a dramatic realignment of university funding for educational efforts in the department of internal medicine. The metric was easily understood, quickly implemented, and perceived to be fair by the faculty. By aligning specific salary support with faculty's educational responsibilities, a foundation was created for applying mission-based incentive programs.

Reconciling the theory and practice schism in educational administration through practitioner‐developed theories in practice

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to contribute to the international debate over the university as the service provider for school administrator preparation programs from the United States perspective.Design/methodology/approachThe author's approach is that of using historical analysis in developing a conceptual position: the author argues that the university professoriate in the United States now has little choice but to heal the historic rift between theory and practice if it wants to survive this current ideological era characterized by accountability for public schools to improve student outcomes and by the competitive marketplace.FindingsThe author's analysis consists of four separate explications. He first explains the genesis of the schism between theory and practice endemic to all professional schools: 19th century Positivism and early 20th century Technical Rationality. Second, he points out that the university, which traditionally protected education administration programs from constituency attacks, can no longer do so in large part because the field's weak knowledge base is perceived by many reformers and practitioners alike as counter‐productive to improving schooling's core technology: teaching and learning. Third, based primarily upon the work of Culbertson, Willower, and Schon, the author draws on over a century's rich counter tradition to the forces of Positivism and Technical Rationality in advocating that practitioners should develop and test their own theories of practice.Practical implicationsThe last explication infers the practical value to this concept paper.Originality/valueThe author suggests how professors can exploit the university's institutional advantages in adopting practitioner‐developed theories in practice as a curricular centerpiece.

An Evaluation with Respect to e-Learning and Economic Analysis of the Graduate Program Offered in Anadolu University’s Institute of Educational Sciences

In this study, an e-learning platform was formed to enable school teachers and administrators to attend graduate programs in the field of educational administration, supervision, planning and economics. In this framework, for the non-thesis educational administration, supervision, planning and economics graduate programs to be conducted in the Institute of Educational Sciences in Anadolu University with using the e-learning method, cost of technical infrastructure for e-learning method, unit costs of students attending a program, cost advantage per credit and time advantage between e-learning and formal education were calculated. In addition, profitability of educational investment in e-learning and application of e-learning were discussed. A descriptive research method is used in the study. Research universe is the students, attending educational administration supervision planning and economics graduate program in Anadolu University’s Institute of Educational Sciences in the 2003-2004 academic year. Universe but not sampling, was used as the research universe in this study. In evaluation and economic analysis of the e-learning model, inflation rate and risk free rate of interest variables are used as the main variables. The value of annually compound rate of nine months Treasury bill (29.90 %), opened bids on November 4, 2003 was used as the risk free rate of interest in the economic analysis. In the economic analysis of the non thesis web based application model of educational administration, supervision, planning and economics program as an educational investment, five year present values of discount rates were calculated according to the %29.90 discount rate value for determining incomes and variable expenditures. Findings of the study can be stated as follows: Unit costs per students for e-learning method is lower than formal education. e-learning method provides cost advantage per credit. Due to the absence of fixed costs from the beginning of the second academic year, total incomes are larger than total expenditures which makes investments in e-learning graduate program profitable. The e-learning method is also found to be time saving when compared to formal education.